1943 Martin D-18
$35,500.00 CAD
(USD $25,000.00)
For more details contact us at info@folkwaymusic.com or 855-772-0424.
With its ebony neck reinforcement, red spruce top with rear-positioned scalloped bracing, and an overall light build, the wartime-spec Martin D-18s built in 1943 and 1944 offer uniquely beguiling tone amongst dreadnoughts, and a playing experience that is unlike other Martin guitars built before or after this short two-year production period. This guitar offers the warm and open bass response that an ebony rod D-18 is famous for, along with the string balance, dry snap, and fundamental presence of a pre-WWII scalloped braced Martin D. It’s a wonderful sounding guitar and quite heavenly to play.
This crack-free Wartime D-18 has just come through our repairshop where it received careful restoration to correct an oversized bridge and plate and an improperly replaced fretboard. The new bridge, bridgeplate and fretboard are period-spec and were cleanly installed to our standards. The finish repair in front of the bridge is visible but well color-matched, level, and texturally blended to match as best as possible without affecting any of the adjacent original finish. The replacement fretboard seamlessly blends with the neck and is aged to match; it would be hard to detect by untrained eyes. Of course, there is some finish repair involved in all of the neck work, but it’s impossible to see without a black light as it’s been blended so well.
The guitar plays perfectly with a good neck angle and new Folkway frets. The new nut and saddle are aged bone, and the TJ Thompson-made bridge has been aged to match the guitar. The Kluson tuners are not original but are era correct and work very well. We have this D-18 set up with 12-54 strings and an action of 5-7/64ths. The guitar can certainly be setup with mediums at the buyer’s request.
Red spruce and mahogany body with tortoise binding and pickguard. Ebony fretboard and bridge. 1-11/16” nut, 2-3/16” string spread at the saddle. C to soft V neck carve with nicely rounded and rolled fretboard edge (you can’t feel the fretboard’s transition between the ebony and the neck’s mahogany). 1st fret neck depth measures .821”, 9th fret depth is .988”. 25.4” scale.
With 1960s hardshell case.
This crack-free Wartime D-18 has just come through our repairshop where it received careful restoration to correct an oversized bridge and plate and an improperly replaced fretboard. The new bridge, bridgeplate and fretboard are period-spec and were cleanly installed to our standards. The finish repair in front of the bridge is visible but well color-matched, level, and texturally blended to match as best as possible without affecting any of the adjacent original finish. The replacement fretboard seamlessly blends with the neck and is aged to match; it would be hard to detect by untrained eyes. Of course, there is some finish repair involved in all of the neck work, but it’s impossible to see without a black light as it’s been blended so well.
The guitar plays perfectly with a good neck angle and new Folkway frets. The new nut and saddle are aged bone, and the TJ Thompson-made bridge has been aged to match the guitar. The Kluson tuners are not original but are era correct and work very well. We have this D-18 set up with 12-54 strings and an action of 5-7/64ths. The guitar can certainly be setup with mediums at the buyer’s request.
Red spruce and mahogany body with tortoise binding and pickguard. Ebony fretboard and bridge. 1-11/16” nut, 2-3/16” string spread at the saddle. C to soft V neck carve with nicely rounded and rolled fretboard edge (you can’t feel the fretboard’s transition between the ebony and the neck’s mahogany). 1st fret neck depth measures .821”, 9th fret depth is .988”. 25.4” scale.
With 1960s hardshell case.